The Trail of Tears

What children learn in Level 50

• This story happened right here in Georgia. The Cherokee Nation's homeland stretched across north Georgia and nearby states. It had its own government, schools, and capital at New Echota.
• Sequoyah created a way to write the Cherokee language, and the nation printed a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. The Cherokee wrote their own constitution in 1827. Some wealthy Cherokee also enslaved Black people, as many white Southerners did.
• Georgia wanted this land, and when gold was found near Dahlonega, the pressure grew. Georgia passed laws against the Cherokee and gave their land away in a lottery. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson pushed through the Indian Removal Act.
• The Cherokee fought with words and in court. In 1832, the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia's laws had no power over the Cherokee Nation. But Georgia and Jackson did not protect them. Then a small group signed a treaty giving up the land. Principal Chief John Ross and most Cherokee said it wasn't valid.
• In 1838, soldiers forced Cherokee families from their homes into camps. Then they were forced to walk about 1,000 miles west, through the cold, to Indian Territory. About 4,000 died from sickness, hunger, and cold. The Cherokee remember it as the Trail of Tears.
• The Muscogee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were forced out too. But these nations were not destroyed. The Cherokee Nation governs itself in Oklahoma today, and many visit New Echota. Try it with a grown-up: find it on a map of Georgia.